Category: Augustina blog

I applied to come and study in the US from Cameroon. I also got my student visa from the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon. Just to add to this I believe a lot of the African countries will go through the same procedure I went through to get my visa or to come and study here at MiraCosta college.

Putting Your Documents Together For college

Tip #1: Take a TOEFL test and get at least a score of 46 or higher. If you don’t have a Pass TOEFL Test score, you can apply to study English before starting college classes. Once you have your TOEFL score, make a copy of all educational diplomas, and birth certificate and get them certified by a government official

Tip #2: Complete applications at least 4-5 months before you want to study

Tip #3: Keep in touch with the International Office Please If you have any questions make sure to contact the international office. either by email or by phone

iip@miracosta.edu

P 1.760.795.6897

F 1.760.757.8209

Don’t forget that most countries don’t have the same time as the US, so when calling take that into consideration. (Time difference)

Tip #4 After you get admitted to college, you can get help to apply for the F-1 student visa

MiraCosta College will send you forms you need to apply for the student visa at the U.S. Embassy. If you have any question please don;t heisted to call or email us, we are more than happy to help you.

Tip#5 Once you get your visa What do you do?

Once you have your visa, the earliest you can come to the Us is one month or 30 days before your school stat, that way you can get use to the weather, and take care of the other documents that you need once you reach the US.

Unfortunately, MiraCosta College does not offer housing facilities. Therefore you need to look for where you are going to house before you come to the US. That is why it is important to start the your application early. So you have enough time to plane and do what you need to do. One of the most important thing to remember is that if you have any questions please contact us and we will be ahhpy to help.

The Time to Live Your Dream Is now, Start By Applying To MiraCosta College and Let Us Make those Dreams Happen.

New students must come on time to attend orientation. This is mandatory for new students. We have pictures of International Student, New Student Orientation on Instagram

One good advice I can give to everyone coming to school in the US for their first time is to come at least two weeks before school starts. The US government allows you to come to the US up to one month before your school starts. There is a reason why they do that;

When you come in the US as an international student (F-1), one of the first thing you need to do is to go to your school international student office and let them know that you are now in the country. You will need to give them a copy of your I-94 and maybe some other documents. but it is very important that you go to meet them as soon as you get in the country.

1. You need to get use to the environment. That is the different climate, and a different way of life.

Drive, Bus or train You need to figure out how to get around and to make sure where you will live is witting reasonable distance from the school. Most of the time you will need to get the bus or drive

2. The International Office can help you with your academic adjustment. I am very sure they will tell you something you did not know or they will at least help you get set up with your classes.

3. knew little or nothing about the process. The US college system of education is very different from other countries. (On more information about the difference between the US educational system and other countries, make sure to follow up with my next blog).

When you come in one month before school, you have the opportunity to meet with

a counselor, that can help you set you your classes and help you pick the best classes and professor ( hint: all the professor at MiraCosta College are really good at least the once that I have taking a class with) the question is do you like math in the morning or in the evening, do you prefer a male or a female professor. When you come early, the staff in the international office will help you pick the classes you want (need) at the time you want with the professor you want. Again read my next blog for more information.

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This is a very simple way to understand why colleges exist in the first place and why you might want to consider going to a college like MiraCosta instead of going to a four year university.

In order to get a Bachelor degree in the United States, it might take you about 4 years or more. Now let us talk about the $$$$$$.

The average cost of a university for one year, for an international student is about $35,000 tuition and fees only. For the first two years you will spend about $35000 X 2=$70,000, which is a lot of money.

The cost of attending a community college like MiraCosta for an international student is $6800 (tuition and fees only) for one year. You can spend the first 2 years in college which will cost you about $6800 X 2= $13,600.

Now this is where the magic of college comes in.

When you obtain this transfer degree, you can now go to a university and get in to your third year. When you transfer you complete 2 more years and end up with a bachelor degree. Take note that, college does not make it slower or faster to obtain a bachelor degree, it simply gives you an opportunity to get a higher and quality education at a cheaper prices.

One of the biggest advantage of going to college is that you are going to save about $56,400

($70,000 – $13,600) just by going to MiraCosta College. Come to MiraCosta College and save some money$$$$$. We are also one of the best and most fun college to attend in California.

Hope you found this blog interesting!!! Come to MiraCosta College and get you college degree at an affordable price.

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Halloween!!! Halloween!!!! Halloween!!!

Halloween is a very popular holiday in the western countries. It is highly celebrated in the US. At MiraCosta College, a lot of offices and building decorate their offices to celebrate halloween.

I don’t know exactly why Halloween is celebrated in the US, there are different points of view about how to celebrate it. But the one thing I love is that I get to experience a new and different culture. Because in my country (Cameroon) we don’t have this type of celebration. Also candies and chocolates are really cheap during this time.

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Getting ready for a new semester, is something that most students talk about but they actually don’t do it or take it serious. We sometimes say ohh I need to get ready for my next semester,

Or for someone like me I will probably say I am not ready for the next semester (LoL😊). In order to get ready for a new semester, you need to know the classes you want to do ahead of time, if you don’t know them, then try to meet with a counselor to help you. Every student needs to make a full Educational Plan, that will show all the classes you need to take until you graduate. This plan can be changed but it is a good idea to have one so you know what clases you are going to take a head of time. It will also help you to be more prepare for every semester. For more information about counseling please read my previous blogs or some of the blogs written by my other collegues.

If you are a new student, make sure to attend the new student orientation.The new student orientation this year was fabulous. There was so much food, and a lot of fun things. Below is a picture of one of the international peer leader, her name is Scarlet, and she is from Honduras, she speaks Spanish and English. The photo on the left is a picture of some of the new students that attended orientation and had the great opportuinty to meet with other new students and make new friends from all over the world. For more information, make sure to read my next blog about orientation.

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The one thing I have noticed with the US educational system is the fact that they give students too many choices. It can be confusing.

what classes (subject) you want to study each semester.

what time do you want to take that class (Morning afternoon or evening)

who do you want to be your teacher (do you prefer men or women; writing assignments or lots of quizzes)

The list continues. But is also super helpful for students to choose classes based upon their professional goals and to find a schedule that works for their family, or transportation, or work schedules. Now take note, not every subject or class have a large variety but a lot of the classes do have them; especially Math and English. You could be having the same major with someone but never take or seat in the same class with them. Below is a screen shot of what my fall schedule looks like. I like to take classes in the morning.